The present invention concerns a method for data transmission with assured quality of service, as well as a gateway program module for it, a front-end facility program module for it, a terminal program module for it, a gateway for it, a front-end facility for it and a terminal for it.
Speech connections and other communication connections in which a transmission with a high quality of service is required, e.g. in real time, are increasingly established via data networks, particularly via the Internet. On the Internet, a speech transmission is rendered possible by means of the so-called VoIP (voice over Internet protocol). Communication connections via data networks, particularly via the Internet, are cost-effective for the subscribers using the communication connections. Data networks, however, are typically packet-switched and, in the event of high network occupancy, have a tendency to relay data packets with a delay, or even to erase them, so that an assured, real-time transmission of real-time data can be ensured only to a limited extent. There are under discussion procedures by which a predefined quality of service (QoS) or type of service (ToS) is intended to be assured in data transmission via the Internet. However, if transmission problems occur on the Internet, the respective real-time data is delayed or is even no longer transmitted so that, for example, a satisfactory communication is no longer possible on a VoIP connection. At present, therefore, VoIP connections are used particularly when disturbances are acceptable in communication between subscribers, for example, for private telephone conversations. For communication connections in which a higher quality of service is required, for example, for business telephone conversations, VoIP connections are however rather uncommon due to their limited quality.